Short and to-the-point reviews for games, movies and more

Movie Review: Resident Evil: Vendetta (2017)

Set between the video games Resident Evil 6 and Resident Evil 7: Biohazard is the third animated film in the series, Resident Evil: Vendetta. Bioterrorism Security Assessment Alliance (BSAA) agent Chris Redfield (voiced by Kevin Dorman) is investigating the bioterrorist Glenn Arias (John DeMita) deep in the wildlands of Mexico. Simultaneously, Rebecca Chambers (Erin Cahill) is a university professor specialising in the development of vaccines, whilst Leon Kennedy (Matthew Mercer) is drinking his life away in the Arklay Mountains, in Colorado following his run-in with the Las Plagas in Resident Evil 4. The three of them soon come together attempting to stop Arias before he can destroy the world.

+ the film looks incredible. Admittedly, the zombies sometimes look too cartoon-y, compared to the human soldiers, but the close ups on our major trio are very impressive. My viewing partner and I had good fun comparing the CG models to current actors
+ the action is wild and over the top: exactly as it should be for these movies. Primary antagonist Glenn Arias being some sort of martial arts, weapons and planning maestro is so crazy it just works. One battle between Arias and Chris Redfield is so blatantly ridiculous you can’t help but get hyped
+ the opening scene features a handful of first person shots, reminiscent of the style of Resident Evil 7: Biohazard. There are a few shoutouts to the live action movies, too, which were pleasantly not overdone

The opening scene is almost like something straight out of the first game, as Chris Redfield enters a derelict mansion

– Arias has a duo of interesting sidekicks; the sultry Maria (Cristina Vee) and the hulking Diego Gomez (with hulking vocals from the HULKing Fred Tasciatore, if you follow my hilarious line of puns here), but unfortunately neither are utilised to their best. What could be a phenomenal ‘boss battle’ between Diego and the hero crew simply never materialises
– it is interesting that there was no Ada Wong or Claire Redfield, considering both were involved in the past movies, and unless I have missed something very important, are not dead in this CGI/video game universe.

> it is mind boggling to me just how much better these movies are than the live action ones. I’ve said the live-action franchsie was a guilty pleasure, and I stand by that, but gosh darn, if you have all the material (characters, plots, locations) from over a decade worth of video games, why would you not use it better in (live action) movies?

Should you see this film: This was perhaps not as good as Damnation, but I enjoyed it more than Degeneration. The new twist on the standard Resident Evil zombies was a welcome improvement, and seeing faithful representations of Chris, Leon and Rebecca kick ass on screen is always better than casting someone like Wentworth Miller.